The Newport Chemical Depot, about 50 miles southwest of Crawfordsville, is one of eight Army installations in the United States with a chemical agent stockpile.

In 1968, the nation stopped producing and shipping chemical agents and weapons. Two batches of 1,269 tons of the VX nerve agent still was present at Newport, where it is securely stored, awaiting on-site destruction.

VX is a lethal bulk liquid agent, said Susan Gilman, Newport Chemical Depot outreach office manager. The chemical is a heavy, oily substance, similar to motor oil. Since VX is a contact hazard and has 2,000 times slower evaporation rate than water, it is not likely to evaporate into the atmosphere, Gilman said.

The chemical can be aerosolized through explosion or ignition, according to the Army Chemical Materials Agency. As a vapor, it can be inhaled and absorbed through the lungs, or if swallowed, absorbed through the digestive system.

Destruction of the chemical is a five-step process.

Steel containers of the liquid agent are moved from a secure storage area to the on-site disposal facility. Operators manually drain the chemical from the containers through a glovebox system by attaching a specialized pumping unit to the container. The chemical is destroyed in a reactor machine by mixing it with heated sodium hydroxide and water.

The resulting wastewater is put into tanks until laboratory employees confirm complete destruction of the chemical. Once it is destroyed, Newport plans to have the wastewater trucked to DuPont Chambers Works in New Jersey and destroyed as hazardous waste. The Army is waiting for a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Completion is expected in 2007.

For more information about Newport Chemical Depot, call 1-866-300-9034 or visit www.cma.army.mil/newport.aspx.

1941: Authorization was granted for the construction of an RDX facility two miles south of Newport.

1943: Construction of RDX manufacturing area complete

1959: The Army announced the award of a contract to the FMC Corporation of New York City, N.Y., for the design and construction of a facility to manufacture Chemical Agent VX.

1961: Construction for facility complete

1968: Facility is placed on standby

1969: Shipment of VX is halted

Source: GlobalSecurity.org

Newport Faqs

n 230,000 engineering hours

n 120,000 training hours

n 13,000 drill and safety response hours

n One-third of employees have previous chemical weapon destruction experience

n 38 percent of employees are from the immediate area

Source: Newport Chemical Agent Disposal Facility